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St Peter's Way bikepacking route part 3
The is the final section of the St Peter's Way bikepacking route. The actual hiking route ends at the church, but you need to get home. The easier route would be the road to Southminster or Burnham-on-Crouch, but we opted for the more remote cycle along the coast. This isn't on an actual cycle path. For most of it you are riding on rough farm double-track or bumpy, grassy footpath. It's slow and draining. Some sections you can cycle on the concrete sea wall. You probably won't see another person for the duration of the ride down the coast: quite an unusual and enjoyable experience living in the south east. We ended at Burnham, but you could get the ferry boat over the river and continue down to Shoeburyness and Southend. This was our original plan, but we enjoyed stopping to see things so much on the way that we ran out of time and had to get back to London.
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Jake May, Adrenaline Junkie and Richard like this.
St Peter's Way bikepacking route part 2
This is the more interesting section of the route. There are smooth, tree lined bridleways, coastal villages, old churches, fast road sections, a WW2 memorial, empty gravel tracks and grassy paths leading to the final church: the peaceful, solitary St Peter-on-the-Wall chapel where the hiking route culminates. There's also a religious community close by if you want to stay there. You now need to get home either by road (more sensible) or by the coastal paths through the nature reserve (slow, tiring and remote, which was my option).
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Alan, Jake May and Adrenaline Junkie like this.
St Peter's Way bikepacking route part 1
After doing some of Cycling UK's routes, I decided to make one of my own with a nearby hiking trail. In a similar vein to how the North Downs Way cycle route was adapted from the hiking trail, I tried to stay as close to the original as possible, but detouring onto quiet roads where more suitable or I wasn't meant to be on a footpath. This didn't always work on when we actually got there, so use this as a framework to build on yourself. There's no public transport out to the start. You could park in Chipping Ongar or get someone to drop you off here. The hiking route starts at Chipping Ongar castle, but the oldest wooden church in the world nearby seemed a more interesting starting point. We rode out from north London which meant we needed an overnight stop off which worked out to be South Woodham Ferrers for us. There are several options along the route for camping, B&Bs etc. https://www.essexhighways.org/uploads/files/st_peters_way.pdf https://www.britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/st-peters-way
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Getting out of Enfield to the start of the St Peter's Way bikepacking route.
We chose to ride out to the start of the route as public transport wasn't available and leaving a car wasn't practical. The ride out through Epping was nice and once you get to the other side of Epping you definitely feel you're out of the city and somewhere more rural.
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Adrenaline Junkie likes this.
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December 2, 2024
This is easy walk with some pretty views over the surrounding countryside. It is very muddy in parts at the minute so go with grippy shoes. There are also some steep drops in the woods to be careful of.
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December 1, 2024
Lacock has been used for a variety of filming over the years from Downton Abbey to Pride and Prejudice to Harry Potter.
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Adrenaline Junkie, Sacketpotato and Amy like this.
May 4, 2025
This is collection of old railway lines and similar paths. The gravel is smooth and fast.